Let me abort, 10-year-old girl tells court

A child conceived about 21 weeks ago after her step father recurrently raped her whenever her mother who works at a construction site left them home.

She has petitioned a court in New Delhi-India to allow her have an abortion after police arrested the culprit.

Pankaj Nain, the Rohtak District Police Chief of in northern Haryana state yesterday confirmed that they were seeking an order from the concerned court to have the pregnancy terminated.

He said it will be upon the court to determine the fate of the pregnancy that has just crossed the 20 weeks legal limit after which terminations are only allowed for cases where danger is on the life of the mother or the fetus.

Two years ago the Supreme Court in India allowed a 14-year-old rape survivor to abort the baby.

According to sources, nearly 40,000 rape cases are reported every year in India, but the number could be much higher since most victims become wary of how reporting the incidences can handled or the social stigma attached to sex crimes.

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